Lutheran Minister Suspended for Second Time
5-10-2004 AP
COPENHAGEN, Denmark - The Lutheran minister who proclaimed last year
that there was no God or afterlife was suspended for a second time Thursday for
ignoring church orders not to repeat those beliefs from the pulpit.
Helsingoer Bishop Lise-Lotte Rebel suspended the Rev. Thorkild Grosboell, pastor
of Taarbaek, and handed his case to the government "requesting that it take
the necessary steps."
In Denmark, Lutheran ministers are employed by the state and only the government
can fire them and only with a recommendation from their presiding bishop. Rebel
oversees the diocese that includes Taarbaek, a small town north of Copenhagen.
Grosboell has been under Rebel's strict supervision since he first was suspended
after a May 2003 interview in which he said "there is no heavenly God,
there is no eternal life, there is no resurrection."
About 85 percent of Danes belong to the state Evangelical Lutheran Church,
though just 5 percent attend church services regularly.
Grosboell eventually retracted his statement and apologized for what Rebel had
termed "provocative" remarks. His suspension was lifted.
Yet, he repeated those beliefs in past weeks.